WHY God - is there no decent Sailing Ship war game?!?!

[goodpoints]

Originally Posted by Downunderjock

Er...! didn't the Capt Jack Sparrow games, do a bit of Naval to Pirate ship, fighting on the high seas.

I wish someone, would do a game, as per Nelson, and HMS Victory.

And also, Master and Commander series, the Books where good.
(And Hornblower series.)

The real life Commander, for the above two, was Lord Cochrane, of the British Navy of that period.
He's real life, book's are quite interesting, I found.

PS I forgot Assassins Creed, apparently they are within there games do some sailing, etc.

Agreed on the pirate BS. (disagreed on M&C being good)

Naval Action looked like it might be alright, but (beyond their stupidly restrictive beta) even with all the "manual" sail control (i.e. WOW you can order tacking) options on it seems you can't get rid of the ridiculously cluttered, omniscient HUD or the arcadey "SHOOT HERE" Total War style white cannon trajectories. (how the captain is manually FPS-style aiming a broadside is another good question) Also I'm pretty sure "open world" means: "Sorry, no singleplayer historical battles, campaigns, or career mode."

Your best bet is stuff just to stick with board games. WS&IM was outdated long before it was "adapted" to PC, and was plagued with ludicrous mechanics from the very start. (ahem...chain shot)

Close Action is basically a (vast) improvement of WS&IM, while narrowing the focus to individual ship command and adding a corresponding level of detail. (vs WS&IM's nebulous "you're the admiral but you're choosing the shot on each ship" perspective)

For fleet actions, go with Flying Colors, which is like the admiral's version of Close Action. Less detail per ship, but command is appropriately segmented by squadron with a significant degree of uncertainty. With all the expansions and supplements, you can simulate pretty much every major naval engagement (as well as a bunch of 1v1/smaller ones) during the 7 Years War, American Revolution, Russo-Turkish Wars, Russo-Swedish War of 1788-90, French Revolutionary Wars, Napoleonic Wars, and War of 1812.

[Thagarr]

Just to clarify a couple of points first off, one of the reasons we originally started modding POTC back in 2003 is because we weren't to fond of Disney's Jack Sparrow "pirate BS" either! While some of that has made it's way into our New Horizons mod, it was put there by people who wanted that in the game. It can all be avoided if you so choose, that is what modding is all about after all.

It is our goal with Hearts of Oak to create as realistic of a simulation as we can. In the far distant future, we would also like to add other locales from around the world. It certainly will not be perfect, and it is a project that will take us quite some time to finish. We plan for there to be many career paths to choose from including Naval and Merchant career paths from several different nations. Pirates and smugglers will also be a choice, but they will be done much more realistically than Disney did. It is also our goal to make Hearts of Oak as modable as POTC has been so players will be able to add the content that they want.

Secondly, and to the real point of this post, our August Tech Demo has been released! Yeah, we are a couple of days late, but it is worth the wait! We have improved ship controls and we now have firing cannon! You can read full release article over on our forums HERE! We have also set up a new Bug Tracker on our forums for you to report any technical issue you may encounter. You can download the August Tech Demo from our IndieDB page HERE!

[con20or]

Looking really good - great work HOOCOTS team!

[Thagarr]

Originally Posted by con20or

Looking really good - great work HOOCOTS team!

Thanks mate, much appreciated!

I meant to get over and post this yesterday, but with ITLAP and a new September Tech Demo release, I just didn't have the time! You can find out the full details on our IndieDB page or on our forum! You can download the new September 19'th Tech Demo HERE!

[CybrSlydr]

Apologies if this has already been mentioned, but Naval Action is currently in some form of Beta - unfortunately, when they were offering a chance to buy-in, I let the opportunity slip away and purchases have been closed for a while.

Fan-made Battle of Trafalgar cinematic trailer -

Video of the game from USS Constitution -

[Sailor Steve]

I just took a look at Naval Action's 40-ship Trafalgar game...and ended up watching the whole thing! That was amazing, and I want to play it!!

[Thagarr]

Naval action is a good game, and it looks fantastic! You should also give Letters of Marque a look as well!

We are aiming for a bit of a different type of game though, and in Hearts of Oak, you will get to choose your own path. Naval battles will, of course, be a big part of our game as well. We have just released our latest demo showing the beginnings of the damage and armor systems, and a few other things. You can read more about our latest release, watch a short video and download the demo over at our IndieDB page HERE!

[CaptainRamius]

If someone haven't mentioned it: Sid Meier's Pirates!
It's an excellent game that, despite it's age, still looks incredible and plays even better!

[con20or]

Originally Posted by CaptainRamius

If someone haven't mentioned it: Sid Meier's Pirates!
It's an excellent game that, despite it's age, still looks incredible and plays even better!

it sure is, but i could never get it to work on Vista or 7 - i tried all the tricks but no luck.